Lion July/August 2013 : Page 8

IN THE SPOTLIGHT LIONS NEWS BRIEFS CLUB OF THE MONTH FORT VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON YEAR FOUNDED: 1955 MEETING MATTERS: As the 94 Lions arrive for their weekly lunch meeting, they enjoy piano music played by Lion John Caldwell. At each meeting they learn from guest speakers and have a chance to win an ever-growing jackpot raffle. MEMBERSHIP ON THE RISE: Thanks to the club’s social, upbeat approach, more than 25 new Lions of all ages have recently joined through helping with projects and attending fun meetings and open houses. The club’s original pres-ident, 104-year-old LeRoy DeBast, still proudly serves. STAYING ON TRACK FOR THE BLIND: For the past 35 years, the Lions have held an annual track and field meet for visually impaired youths. More than 100 students convene at the Washington State School for the Blind for the fun com-petition, pre-meet career talks by visually impaired adults and a post-meet dance. FAST FOOD: Since the Lions started “Walk and Knock” in 1982, it has grown to become the county’s largest food drive. Through asking for food donations door-to-door on the first Saturday in December, Lions and other volunteers collect enough food to stock 13 food banks through March. ROCK STARS FOR A CAUSE: The Lions’ biggest fundraisers are their eclec-tic benefit concerts featuring local talent, including themselves. Lions have sur-prised audiences by dressing in costume and rapping, singing reggae tunes and crooning country oldies. These good sports have raised close to $100,000 for Sightfirst II and other causes. WHY SERVE? “My boss ordered me to join a community service group. Against my will I joined the Lions because they met at lunch. That was over 25 years ago. Since then, I’ve learned how good it feels to be a member of a group that helps so many in so many ways.” –Roy Pulliam, membership chairperson Lion Sandy Hammond helps a visually impaired competitor at the annual track meet. OVERHEARD “When you go to work every day, you work hard, fight the fight, chasing the almighty dollar, and that has its place. But you just don’t do that with the Lions club. You feel really good after doing what we do.” –Todd Probasco, 2012-13 president of the Orland Park Lions Club in Illinois, in the Orland Park Patch. “If we want to live in this community and we want to be a good community, we have to take care of the people who live here who don’t have the resources.” –Dr. Sally Freeman, grand marshal of a Lions parade in Rincon, Georgia, and an owner of Effingham Eye Care, which provides free eye care in part-nership with Rincon Lions. From the Effingham Herald. “It’s definitely like being royalty. And the Lions club gives you free corn dogs!” –Mendota (Illinois) Sweet Corn Festival Queen Madeline Piller in the Mendota Reporter. ON THE WEB Connect with Lions around the world by using Instagram, a fun and cre-ative way to share photos. Install the Instagram app on your smartphone, and after taking a photo, choose a fil-ter that can transform the shot to look like nostalgic Kodak Instamatic or Polaroid images. Play with color and contrast, create collages and use many other effects to make your Lions’ images even more memo-rable. Find the free app in the iTunes or Google Play stores. Then use the #LionsEverywhere hash tag to get started sharing and following Lions’ photos. Watch a video of the “Village Lions” performing “LION”—their version of the song “YMCA”—at last spring’s benefit concert. 8 LION J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 3